In 1938, at the conference of Evian – called to discuss the flow of Jewish migrants and attended by 32 countries - the Dominican Republic, alone, agreed to accept Jewish refugees. Short-term political expediency in dealing with the “migrant problem” is not new.

In 1939 the St Louis ocean liner made the journey from Hamburg to Cuba with a thousand refugees aboard, mostly Jewish. Under pressure from the USA, Cuba refused permission for the passengers to land as of course did the USA and Canada. The ship was obliged to return to Europe. A last luxury Caribbean cruise for most of the passengers who disappeared into the maelstrom of Nazi occupied Europe. Freud and Einstein, luckily, took another ship.